bigglesfandomcom-20200215-history
Biggles' Flying Wardrobe
Biggles' Flying Wardrobe is a short story which was first published in The Modern Boy Issue 362, 12th January 1935. The story was subsequently gathered and published in 1935 in the anthology Biggles in France where it spanned chapters 20 and 21 and were titled Twelve Thousand Feet Up! and Returned Unknown. The story was republished in Biggles of 266 where it appeared as the 4th chapter, under the title Humbugs. It later reappeared in the Red Fox Biggles in France and the 2009 Norman Wright edition. Both of these versions retained the chapter division and titles of the 1935 edition. In the Modern Boy sequence, this story is preceded by Biggles' Paperchase and followed by Flying Crusaders. Synopsis Biggles thinks Wilks has played a mean practical joke on him and sets out to get even by contriving to get Wilks' personal kit dropped behind enemy lines. Plot (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Characters *Biggles *Algy Lacey *Wat Tyler *Wilks *Flight Sergeant Smyth *Captain Mahoney *Captain MacLaren *Batson *Lee *Parker (287 Squadron) Aircraft *Sopwith Camel *S.E.5 *Airco D.H.4 *Albatros *Pfalz D.III Places Visited *Maranique *Hamel *Amiens *Mont St. Eloi Mentioned *Bettonau *Douai Editorial Changes Other Research Notes *Other R.F.C. and R.N.A.S. Units mentioned: **287 Squadron (R.F.C.) - Wilk's squadron **91 Squadron (R.N.A.S.) - based at Mont St. Eloi. **311 Squadron (R.F.C.) - also flying the S.E.5. References to the past Incongruities Chronology (see also table at Timeline of the Biggles Stories) *From a chronology point of view, this story is from the second block of Modern Boy stories which went into Biggles in France. This block was published about 4 months after the first block. In contrast to the first block, the second block appears to be set later during the war. Biggles is obviously a flight commander, and a captain and Algy Lacey has joined the squadron. *The problem here is that Batson appears in the story. And it is recorded that "He had only recently joined the squadron". In The Camels are Coming Batson is present almost from the beginning and died in chapter 10 whereas Algy only arrives in chapter 11. There are two ways around this discontinuity: **We can assume this is a different Batson, in which case this story can sit with Biggles' Paperchase in the late Autumn of 1917 but before Christmas.Ward Powers. "What Happened to Biggles in WW1?" ''Biggles Flies Again'' Vol. 3 No. 1, June 2009. Since Algy has a large role in this story, while Batson is only mentioned once, this seems reasonable. **We can slot this just before chapter 10 of Camels. Thus Algy's arrival in Chapter 11 of Camels actually takes place shortly before this story and before chapter 10. Algy's absence in the chapter where Batson dies is not critical--the action is fast paced and he may have been a member of the squadron already but was simply not around. We have to interpret "only just arrived" rather loosely. In this scenario Batson would certainly be more experienced than Algy. Publication History *''The Modern Boy'', Issue 362, 12th January 1935 *''Biggles in France'', Boy's Friend Library No. 501 7th November 1935 (as two chapters: "Twelve Thousand Feet Up! and Returned Unknown) *''Biggles of 266'' 1956 (as chapter 4 Humbugs) *''Biggles in France'', Red Fox, 1993 and subsequent reprints *''Biggles in France'', Norman Wright, 2009 References External Links Category:Short stories Category:Biggles short stories Category:World War One era short stories